Caesars fined $15K for online gambling violation

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) -- New Jersey casino regulators have fined the local Internet gambling arm of Caesars Entertainment $15,000 for soliciting gamblers who signed up for a self-exclusion list that is supposed to prevent them from betting.

The state charged in April that the company allowed self-excluded gamblers to create Internet gambling accounts and allowed five of them to actually place online bets. It also claimed Caesars sent marketing material to 231 self-excluded gamblers, soliciting their business.

The company paid a $10,000 fine for a similar infraction last year.

Regarding the fine announced Tuesday, company spokesman Seth Palansky said Caesars Interactive actually turned itself in to regulators once it realized it had erred.

"We self-reported this error to the DGE after we were notified by our third-party provider a lapse in procedure occurred," Palansky said. "We regret the error, and apologize to those affected by it. We accept the punishment and will work more diligently to avoid a repeat mistake."

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